I don’t know about other bloggers of my ilk, but it’s a rare occasion that I have the interest to dine out and even rarer still that I get excited to try a place. It had been a long time since I’d been out to Ann Arbor and when I heard about eve, my interest was piqued.

So…how was it? This is where I’d go into the “Bon Appetite” like review and bust out a lovely entry about what the dining experience was like. Yeeeah, no. There are enough sites out there that give you reviews. Would I recommend eve to friends, yes but I’d tell them to not get the lamb loin and order the Moroccan scallops. I’d also suggest another dish, that we didn’t order, the Thai barbequed tofu napoleon. How can we suggest without trying? Well, I made a variation of it and loved it. I’d think eve’s would be much better.

Preparation

For the mangoes and zucchini:
1. Preheat the grill or grill pan. I like to grill the mangoes to get their sugars out and caramelized. Grill the mango slices about 2 minutes a side.
2. Season the zucchini slices with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Drizzle with olive oil and grill until tender about 6 minutes total. Cover to keep warm. Set aside.

For the tofu:
1. Preheat broiler. In a non-reactive saucepan, reduce the thai bbq sauce over low heat until thickened to consistency of peanut butter. I added additional coconut milk to this because I am a sucker for it and so are C and my sis. It’s optional though.

2. Season the tofu generously with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

3. Heat olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Sauté the tofu until it’s lightly golden, but still tender inside. Remove from pan and place onto a baking sheet greased with olive oil.

4. Brush tofu with BBQ sauce and broil the tofu until the BBQ starts to bubble.

Plating

1. Place one slice of tofu down, add some seaweed salad to cover the tofu.
2. Add a grilled zucchini slice and then mango slice. Repeat until desired stack height.

I’ve not found a good recipe for seaweed salad. I usually pick it up at an Japanese market or my Sushi place. Sometimes, specialty grocers sell it too. Also, I’ve edited the entry to clarify when to brush on the bbq sauce. After you saute the tofu, place on baking sheet, brush with bbq sauce and broil til bubbly.

Cheers!

TC

05. Jul, 2007

I really have to applaud your recipes here. I’ve always had problems coming up with ideas for food pairings, and I honestly don’t get out to eat at restaurants worth a hoot half the time, so seeing someone come up with these types of menus is refreshing.

You seem to do a lot of seafood. Never having been to the Detroit area, and seeing as how you’re right on the edge of Lake Eerie, I have to assume you’ve got access to some really bangin’ seafood markets up there?

Down here in Texas it’s beef or die seems like. I find fish at my meat market that to me is very good, but I have to wonder how “fresh” it really is…